Fiona's dad helped us learn to love hippos

Jan Sherbin is the author of “Hip, Hippo, Hooray for Fiona!,” a photographic biography of Fiona’s earliest days, available at local and online bookstores.

Tears flowed Tuesday when we learned that Cincinnati Zoo hippopotamus Henry had died after an illness. His 3,300 pounds diminished significantly, an infection raged, and his kidneys were shutting down. We expected him to defy nature because that’s what his celebrity daughter did when born prematurely last January at a seemingly unsurvivable low weight. But it just didn’t happen that way for Henry.

How many of us, before Fiona, thought we’d ever become so attached to hippos? That we’d follow developments of a hippo family as avidly as some follow the Kardashians?

Fiona came into our lives last winter, the cutest little hippo on the planet. We rooted for her as she struggled to survive against the odds. Her dedicated keepers cuddled her, and we wished we could do the same. The keepers nursed Fiona to health in a solitary, sterile environment until she became healthy enough to interact with her parents, mother Bibi and father Henry.

Reunification with Bibi worked well, reunification with Henry not so much so. Little Fiona seemed to confuse him. Eventually, Henry came to understand family dynamics, and we were treated to photos of the threesome stacked up underwater for a nap, knitted so closely that we could scarcely make out each individually. The family of three endeared themselves to us. A fairytale ending. Surely we needed a fairy tale, with the year’s unsettling events in America and around the world.

Cover of the book "Hip, Hippo, Hooray, for Fiona!"(Photo: Provided)

Henry’s passing is a sad postscript to the fairytale ending. Fiona and Bibi will still frolic at Hippo Cove, though remembering Henry’s days there leaves us with a grievous loss.

We should remember that Fiona’s story of survival and our affection for her and her family will remain with us always. She inspired us with her pluck and personality and her devotion her humans. She brought us together in harmony as we set aside our tweeting attacks to coo over her every baby step.

Fiona carries Henry’s legacy into the future and represents her father well. Henry, we will miss you and want you to know that we will always treasure your little girl.